Explosive.



UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE- rnnnnmc LEWIS nArnAn, WILLIAM BmroUL; Am) FRAN -Burma, or STEVENS'l-ON, scor Ann, ASSIGNORS T E. I. no Pour In: nmrouns rownna COMPANY, or wmmme ron, DELAWARE, A CORPORATION or NEW E SE L ExrLosIvn.

No Drawing.

' To all whom it may concern 'Be it known that we, FREnEnIo LEWIS NA- THAN, manager, WILLIAM RINTOUL, chief chemist, and FRANK BAKER, chemist, all of Ardeer Factory, .Stevenston, in the county of Ayr, Scotland, have invented a certain new and useful Improvement in and Relating to Explosives, and do hereby declare that the following isa'full, clear, and exact description thereof.

This invention relates to the stabilizin of propellant explosives.

However carefully prepared, nitric esters, such as nitrocellulose, and nitroglycerin, undergo a slow decomposition even at ordinary temperatures, with the result that these substances, and mixtures containing one or moreof them, are liable to deteriorate when kept for considerable periods. V

The products of the decomposition 're-' ferred to, if allowed to remain in contact with the unchanged esters, exert an accelerating effect on the decomposition. Espe cially is this the case with explosives containing one or more members of the above mentioned class of chemical compounds, and

such explosives are liable to become not merely unserviceable but dangerous-It is therefore essential, in order to obtain an explosive of good chemical stability, that besides being prepared from thoroughly stabilized materials, it shall have added to it some substances which will have the efiect of removing from it or rendering innocuous these products of decomposition.

It is already known that Vaseline or mineral jelly exertsa stabilizing action on explosives into which it is introduced. It, however, possesses certaindisadvantages which limit the stabilizing effects-produced by it. For instance, it is an exceedingly. complex substance, some of the' components of it being very much less active in their stabilizing properties than others. It is, moreover, entirely insoluble in nitroglycerin. These properties tend to produce want of homogeneity in the explosive, and ultimately to limit the stabilizing eifect of this substance.

We have discovered that certain other substances possess to a very high degree the power of absorbing the harmful products of amids,

plosives formed of or containing a nitric ester by including therein one or more of. these substances in suitable quantity.

The following are examples of the class of compound referred to Formanilid C.,H ON Acet-ortho-toluidid C I-I ON Acet-para-anisidid C,,H O,N Acct-{i-naphthalid C H ON Benz-ortho-anisidid O14'H130'2N Phenyl-acetanilid a s C, H 01? Ethyl-acet-(i-naphthalid C H ON Phenyl-acet-a-naphthalid- C H, ON

. In judging which substance or substances.

1s or are most suitable for use inany particular case, we are guided by the properties of the individual compounds such. as volatility, solubility in nitroglycerin, and the readiness with which they become nitrateda As these substances are introduced into explosives with the view of absorbing the products of decomposition by becomingnitrated, their'highennitro derivatives areiun; .9a.

suitable for this purpose because ofthe in- --creasing difiiculty with which nitration occurs as the degree of nitration rises.

As an example of the use, according to our present invention of one of the above class of compounds, an explosive of the following composition may be cited These substances possess the property of combining, or reacting with the decomposition products of nitric esters and thus proventing them. from having any accelerating influence on the decompositionof these esters. The action'of any of these substances when-introduced as a stabilizer into nitric esters or mixtures of them, consists a parently partly inbecoming nitrated by t e nitrogen peroxid and other injurious decomposition products of the nitric esters, and

, partly in reducing these acid bodies to com- 'or only "slightly soluble in nitroglycerin are added to a nitroglycerin explosive they often exhibit a tendency to separate out from the finished explosive either in the form of crystals or as an 'oil. Any separation of this nature is exceedingly disadvantageous for many reasons. The fact that 1 some of these anilids are soluble in nitro-' glycerin is also important from another point of view,'namely that it tends to the production of a more homogeneous mixture and to the increase of the active mass of the stabilizer present.

We claim y 1. An explosive containing nitrocellulose, nitroglycerin and phenyl acetanilid.

2. An explosive containing, gelatinized together, nitrocellulose and a derivative of an organic acid amid, in which one of "the hydrogen atoms of the amino group is replaced by an aromatic radical, and t e radical of the acid contains, at most, carbon, hydrogen and oxygen. 1

3. An explosive containing, gelatinized together, nitrocellulose, nitroglycerin and a derivative of an organic acid amid, in which one of the hydrogen atoms of the amino grou is replaced by an aromatic radical, and t e radical of the acid contains, at most, carbon, hydrogen and oxygen.

4. An explosive containing, gelatinized together, nitrocellulose, nitroglycerin and -phenyl acetanilid.

' In testimony that we claim the foregoing we have hereunto set our hands. 7

FREDERIO LEWIS NATHAN. WILLIAM RINTOUL. FRANK BAKER. Witnesses:

M. B. MILNE, ERNEST HANBFORD. 

